The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-27
POSTHUMOUS LETTERS.

P0STHUMOUS LETTERS
One of the privileges and pleasures enjoyed
by this generation is that of reading the pri-
vate correspondence Of distinguished person
ages belonging to the generation just gone by.
There were Dickens letters, there were Carlyle
letters, there were George Eliot letters, and
now come the hitherto unpublished letters of
Thackeray. Poor man! He did what he
could to prevent this post-mortem intrusion
of the world into the field sacred to close
friendship by requesting his daughter to print
none of the letters and papers in her posses.
sion. But the public has no scruples. If
letters exist it insists upon having them laid
open to its inspection. Nor is it mere vulgar
curiosity that leads to this demand. The
public would not rifle the desk of the living
celebrity to gain access to Lis innermost
thoughts; doubtless, indeed, the very ones
who most delight in the revelations
of character made in these published letters
| would have felt comparatively little interest
in them had the writer endeavored to take
the public into his confidence by giving them
to the printer before his death. In such case
they would have lost their flavor of spontanei-
| ty; they would have been open to the suspi-
cion of having been written or revised to suit
| supposed popular conception Of what he
mi oh 1Obt fn how OF &c fho
inc letter that the public wants. A man
whose public work meets with approval gains
place for himself in the hearts of those who
| know nothing of his personality. Having
| this regard their interest is excited to know
something of the real man, and it is the belief
| that letters to tried and trusted friends re-
veal the writer as nothing else do that
causes such correspondence to be well
coined. If sometimes an ideal is shat
tered, as in tho case Of the Car
| lyles, if sometimes acquaintance is not
furthered by the letters, as with George
Eliot, whose epistolary efforts suggest that
she was not On intimate terms with herself,
the fondness of the reader for this species of
literature is not impaired. He will regret the
broken idol, but will eagerly welcome the
private correspondence of the next one who
found time in the midst of busy life to put
his heart and his affairs on paper With
Thackeray there is no danger Of disappoint-
ment He is gay and grave, cynical and pa
| IL -
important events of the day and gives charm
to them; he talks Of his debts, he gossips
about the characters in his books, moralizes
over the sorrows of the world, and enlivens
the page with humorous illustration; in
short, is altogether delightful. In a purely
literary sense, thsre is nothing remarka
BILE about them. Confidential and per
sonal correspondence does not commonly
excel in that respect. At its best, it il
entertaining and its best is of the sort il
which the writer is most frank and outspoken
as in those of Thackeray's. The reader viii
enjoy them the moro knowing as he does
that letter writing is becoming lost art
Who pours cut his soul upon unlimited fools
cap nowF The statesman and business ma,
do not time is precious, and the type
writer will transcribe the few lines dictated
by them to relieve the anxiety of family
mere friends must wait for chance of meet
ing. The literary man has no time for pr
vate correspondence, or, if he have, finds
more profitable to send his letters to syndi
cate for publication. Lovers it is suspected
still affect the daily interchange of bulk
communications, but, even here, there ar
indications that the custom is coming int
disuse. Youth growing wary, and fearin
possible future complications, prefers to prov
his affection by ''word Of mouth" AS forlettel
of friendship, they are stereotyped perfunctor
aft sirs, and Of no value in disclosing persona
characteristics. The celebrity Of the perio
may rejoice because this is so, and that b
is saved from any danger that his limos
nature will be revealed when he has gone GU
: Of the world; but the next generation lose
) much by the decline of epistolary correspond
ence among the people Of to-day.
D
MINOR MENTION.